1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical writing device that writes an image, an image forming device that includes the optical writing device, an optical writing control method thereof, and a computer program product.
2. Description of the Related Art
In electrophotographic image forming devices such as digital copiers and printers, there has been used a technique that performs mask processing on pixels of image data to thin the pixels by converting black pixels into white pixels, as one of the toner saving functions for reducing toner consumption.
When a toner saving mode is set, it has been known that continuity is determined between target pixels and peripheral pixels in an array consisting of a plurality of low-resolution image data and the printing pixels are reduced based on the determination result of the continuity in order to reduce printing pixels. This technique can reduce the consumption of toner without deteriorating print quality.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need to prevent image quality from being deteriorated and to reduce output of an unintended hatching image even when image data is thinned and written.